The Sacramento State shocked the college football world with their desperate leap to officially join the MAC. The word is they even paid $23 million in fees. And the wild part is they won’t take a single dime of the conference’s TV money for at least five years. On top of that, since the MAC is based in the Midwest, Sac State even promised to pay for the other teams’ flights to California. According to the Oregon Alum, they are cooking something else.
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On February 16th, George Wrighster hopped onto his X handle and gave his 2 cents on behind SAC State’s FBS jump after Ross Dellenger’s finalized announcement.
“No way Sac State has no intentions of staying in the MAC long-term. They will be hoping to get a Pac-12 or Mountain West invite next. This is the type of deal SMU made to get in the ACC. It worked. And now look at the trajectory of the program.” George retweeted.
Basically, Sacramento State is paying a fortune just to get their foot in the door of the big leagues. Wrighster compares this move to what SMU did to get into the ACC. SMU basically told the ACC conference after leaving the Group of Five, “We’ll play for free for nine years just to be here.” The move got funded by their wealthy boosters who raised a record-breaking $159 million in a single year to cover the costs.
No way Sac State has no intentions of staying in the MAC long term. They will be hoping to get a Pac-12 or Mountain West invite next.
This is the type of deal SMU made to get in the ACC. It worked. And now look at the trajectory of the program. https://t.co/6Blm0LK8Aa
— George Wrighster III (@georgewrighster) February 16, 2026
It sounded absurd at the time, but it worked. The move has SMU’s program immediately got more famous and made the playoffs in their inaugural season. Wrighster thinks Sac State is trying to copy that exact “fake it ’til you make it” strategy.
Make no mistake, the MAC is a solid conference, but it’s not the final destination. Wrighster argues that Sac State has no intention of staying there or signing another contract. Because they were previously in a lower division (FCS), they needed any FBS conference to invite them so they could officially move up. Now that they’re in, they are “officially” a major program. It’s nothing more than a stepping stone.
The ultimate dream for Sac State is to get an invite to the Pac-12 or the Mountain West. Those conferences are right in their backyard. This would fix their travel problems and ignite local rivalries. While some folks worry they don’t have enough money to pull this off, Wrighster is more optimistic. He thinks that if the program’s “trajectory” goes up like SMU’s did, the $23 million they’re spending now will look like a bargain once they’re finally playing on the biggest stages in college football.
If you actually look at it from the broader picture, this is just one part of their $975 million vision.
SAC’s president’s $975 million vision
University President Luke Wood’s $975 million vision is a bet that joining a bigger league will put the school on the national map. By jumping to the MAC, the school expects its economic impact to triple over the next five years.
To get there, the school is leaning hard into TV deals. They are basically projecting that being on channels like ESPN will bring in about $675 million in media value. This is their fancy way of saying ‘free advertising’ every time the Hornets play their football on a Tuesday’s night. Despite paying such loads of money to join, they believe the constant TV exposure will attract more students, better athletes, and also some bigger donors who want to be part of their winning program.
Not only that, Wood is promising that the academics wins too. He’s pledged that 15% of the new money the school makes from this move will go directly into Academic Affairs starting in 2027. This means the football team’s success could literally pay for more classes and better resources for regular students.
Lastly, the vision includes a facelift for the local area. The school wants to ditch the old Hornet Stadium and build a shiny new home at Cal Expo. They think will bring $46 million in game-day spending to the Sacramento region every year. Not going to lie, it’s a one heck of an expensive gamble. The one worth taking if your donors got money sitting idle in the bank.
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